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| Britain should scrap plan to ban khat drug: lawmakers Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 04:37 PM PST  By Peter Griffiths LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's plan to ban khat, a leafy plant chewed as a stimulant in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian peninsula, should be dropped because it could alienate immigrants and damage counter-terrorism operations, lawmakers said on Friday. Parliament's Home Affairs Committee, a panel with influence but no legal power, said the ban was not based on any evidence of medical or social harm. Banning the use of khat, or qat, would create tension between the police and immigrants, particularly Somalis who have settled across Britain, the committee said in a report. It would also be seen as a betrayal by Kenya, where growing khat is a big source of income in some areas, the panel added. Full Story | Top |
| Masked artist makes sticky issue out of radiation in Japan Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 04:10 PM PST  By Sophie Knight TOKYO (Reuters) - With his face hidden behind sunglasses and a white surgical mask, the artist is almost as invisible as the radioactive contamination he is protesting against - yet his stickers are graphic reminders of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Known as 281 Antinuke, Japan's answer to Banksy has covered Tokyo streets in images depicting politicians as vampires and children being shielded from radioactive rain to highlight the consequences of a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant after an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. The disaster and the response by plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) stoked anti-nuclear sentiment and the biggest public protests in Japan since the 1960s, but the movement has since lost momentum. "Perhaps because everyone believes people telling them on television that everything is fine, they don't seem so worried," 281 Antinuke told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Journal withdraws controversial French Monsanto GM study Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 02:50 PM PST  By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - The publisher of a controversial and much-criticized study suggesting genetically modified corn caused tumors in rats has withdrawn the paper after a yearlong investigation found it did not meet scientific standards. Reed Elsevier's Food and Chemical Toxicology journal, which published the study by the French researcher Gilles-Eric Seralini in September 2012, said on Thursday the retraction was because the study's small sample size meant no definitive conclusions could be reached. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) issued a statement in November 2012 saying the study by Seralini, who was based at France's University of Caen, had serious defects in design and methodology and did not meet acceptable scientific standards. In its retraction statement, the Food and Chemical Toxicology journal said that in light of these concerns, it too had requested to view the raw data from the study. Full Story | Top |
| Novo to launch mid-stage tests with new diabetes pill Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 09:46 AM PST By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Novo Nordisk is about to launch a mid-stage clinical study with a tablet version of a so-called GLP-1 medicine as it steps up the hunt for diabetes pills that can replace injections. The Phase II trial may start as early as next week and will involve approximately 600 patients, Chief Science Officer Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen said on Thursday. "It is a milestone because this is not incremental innovation, it's disruptive innovation," he told Reuters in an interview during a visit to London. The Danish company is already the world's biggest supplier of diabetes medicines, which include its popular GLP-1 product Victoza. Full Story | Top |
| Acupuncture could help in the dentist's chair Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 09:17 AM PST By Kathleen Raven NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Acupuncture may provide relief for dental patients who reflexively gag during procedures like teeth impressions, according to Italian researchers. People who cannot help their gag reflex may unintentionally deprive themselves of the best dental care, write Giuseppa Bilello and Antonella Fregapane, both from the University of Palermo in Sicily. Acupuncture may be one strategy to solve that problem, the pair suggests. The researchers recruited 20 people with a history of gag reflex in the dental chair to have upper and lower teeth impressions taken under normal circumstances and then immediately after acupuncture. Full Story | Top |
| Church of England proposes 'blessings' for gay marriage Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 08:57 AM PST  By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - Church of England clergy would be able to "bless" same-sex relationships under long-awaited proposals unveiled on Thursday as the church adopts a more open - but disputed - approach to homosexuality. Although gay couples would still not be able to legally marry in a church, the proposed change would officially sanction clergy to let gay and lesbian couples mark and celebrate same-sex marriages and civil partnerships in a church service. Acknowledging the issue was divisive, group chairman Joseph Pilling said the church needed to reflect rapid changes in society as senior clergy express fears of a looming crisis, with falling attendance rates and failure to attract young people. This year, parliament introduced new laws to allow gay marriages from 2014 after legalizing civil partnerships in 2005 and the church dropped its ban on gay clergy in civil partnerships becoming bishops. Full Story | Top |
| Later teen bedtimes tied to school problems and distress Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 08:53 AM PST By Shereen Jegtvig NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - One quarter of adolescents go to bed after 11:30 on school nights, according to a new U.S. study, which also finds those kids tend to perform worse in school and to have greater emotional distress than peers who go to bed earlier. "If teens' sleep patterns are in conflict with their natural circadian rhythms, then that also has repercussions on cognitive function and emotional regulation as well as potential health consequences," said Dr. Judith Owens, director of Sleep Medicine at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC, who was not involved in the study. It's estimated that between 45 percent and 85 percent of sixth-to-12th graders sleep less than the recommended nine hours on school nights, according to the report in the Journal of Adolescent Health. The researchers used information from the first two Waves (1994-1995 and 1996) to study the bedtimes of 2,700 teens during the school year and during summer recess. Full Story | Top |
| Computer games may help older adults walk easier Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 08:41 AM PST By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older adults who tried special brain training computer games had better gait and balance than their peers afterward, in a new study. "Participants in this study were on average 83 years old," Renae L. Smith-Ray said. "Because we know that degradation occurs with aging, in older participants we often consider interventions successful when they prevent or slow future decline." Smith-Ray led the study at the Center for Research on Health and Aging at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She found the computer games did just that: they slowed the decline of people's balance and walking speed. Full Story | Top |
| EU bans South African citrus imports over disease fears Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 07:22 AM PST By Charlie Dunmore BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union banned most imports of South African citrus fruit on Thursday for the rest of this year over fears that a fungal disease found in dozens of shipments could spread to the 28-nation bloc. The ban follows the interception of 36 citrus consignments this year from the EU's chief summer supplier that were contaminated with the fungal black spot disease, which is not currently found in Europe. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that the executive European Commission was set to propose the ban following pressure from citrus growers in southern Europe. EU citrus growers said on Thursday the measure was too late, noting the main export season is now over, but the Commission said the ban could be extended into next year if need be. Full Story | Top |
| Britain seeks to force plain cigarette packaging on tobacco firms Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 06:59 AM PST  By William James and Martinne Geller LONDON (Reuters) - Britain signaled it would force tobacco companies to scrap branded cigarette packaging on Thursday in an attempt to reduce the number of children who may be drawn to smoking by striking and brightly colored packs. In a surprise decision that was welcomed by cancer research charities but scorned by some tobacco companies, the government said it was appointing a pediatrician to examine whether plain packaging would reduce the human and financial cost of smoking. It was unexpected as Prime Minister David Cameron had in July appeared to shelve plans to force companies such as Imperial Tobacco, Japan Tobacco Inc, British American Tobacco and Philip Morris International to sell cigarettes in plain packaging. Full Story | Top |
| Some South African clinics running short of HIV/AIDS drugs: MSF Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 06:54 AM PST  One in five South African clinics are running short of life-saving HIV/AIDS drugs, affecting nearly half a million people and undermining the success of the world's largest treatment programme, medical charities said on Thursday. With about 6 million people infected with the virus - more than 10 percent of the population - South Africa carries the world's heaviest HIV/AIDS caseload and has around 2.5 million people taking antiretroviral (ARV) drugs daily. Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières surveyed more than 2,300 of South Africa's 3,800 public health facilities and found that one in five had either run short or run out of drugs in the previous three months. Of the affected clinics, catering for 420,000 patients, 20 percent said they had had to turn away patients, putting the effectiveness of the ARV treatment plan at risk, MSF said. Full Story | Top |
| Dutch sound alarm about possible risks of e-cigarettes Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 05:57 AM PST  By Anthony Deutsch AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch Health Ministry sounded an early warning on Thursday about the possible health risks of electronic cigarettes, announcing plans to clamp down on labeling ahead of European regulations. The move followed an analysis of existing scientific research by the National Institute for Public Health, the leading Dutch government health advisory body. Some health experts say e-cigarettes - battery-powered metal tubes that turn nicotine-laced liquid into vapor - may be the answer to helping millions of smokers to quit cigarettes and thereby avoid the damaging health effects of smoke. Tobacco has an annual death toll of 6 million people, and the World Health Organization says that could exceed 8 million by 2030 unless something urgent is done to stop people smoking. Full Story | Top |
| MERS virus found in camels in Qatar, linked to human spread Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 05:44 AM PST  By Amena Bakr and Kate Kelland DOHA/LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have found cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in camels in Qatar, health officials said on Thursday, fuelling speculation that camels might be the animal reservoir that allowed the virus to infect and kill humans. The SARS-like coronavirus, which emerged in the Middle East last year and has killed almost 40 percent of the around 170 people so far infected, was found in three camels in a herd in a barn also linked to two human cases of MERS infection. "The three camels were investigated among a herd of 14 camels, and the samples were collected as part of the epidemiological investigation," Qatar's Supreme Council of Health said in a statement. It added that the two confirmed human cases linked to the barn had since recovered. Full Story | Top |
| The second coming of Obamacare website - will it work? Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 10:12 PM PST  President Barack Obama's healthcare law is facing its biggest test this weekend since its disastrous October 1 launch, as Americans find out whether the administration has met a self-imposed deadline to fix its insurance shopping website. Another major outage of glitch-ridden HealthCare.gov could spell more political trouble for the president, who was forced to apologize for the botched rollout and admit burdening Democratic Party allies in their bids for re-election to Congress in 2014. If the website does not work on Saturday's deadline, that could turn off millions of uninsured Americans, especially young and healthy consumers whose participation in the new insurance exchanges are critical for keeping costs in check. Obama officials are confident that this second coming of HealthCare.gov will be much improved from the October 1 debut. Full Story | Top |
| Cardiologists strongly back Obamacare, worry over rocky start Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 10:07 PM PST  By Ransdell Pierson and Bill Berkrot DALLAS (Reuters) - American cardiologists appear staunch in their support for President Barack Obama's healthcare reform, although some fear that its rocky launch could derail efforts to improve preventive care for needy patients. The broad support for the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, emerged in interviews last week in Dallas with more than 20 cardiologists at the annual scientific sessions of the American Heart Association. The group has set an aggressive goal of reducing heart disease and deaths from heart disease and strokes in the United States by 20 percent by 2020. Heart specialists say the key to achieving that goal is a greater focus on preventive care and access to medical services for more Americans. Full Story | Top |
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